


Third time is the Charm

by Fjodor



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bellamione Coven Valentine’s Event, F/F, Trapped In Elevator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:41:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29368689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fjodor/pseuds/Fjodor
Summary: Hermione and Narcissa get stuck in a lift for the third time in as many weeks, unlike previous times they talk for a bit.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Narcissa Black Malfoy
Comments: 6
Kudos: 100





	Third time is the Charm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jess97](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jess97/gifts).



She should have known that it would happen again, even if logically it was incredibly unlikely. Walking into the lift she had pressed the same button, waited a moment and saw her entering after her. The second time she had joked to herself that it might have been a glitch in the matrix. Mentally she had chuckled momentarily about the coincidence only moments before the cabin stopped moving.

“You’d imagine that they would have fixed it by now,” the lady let up in a huff as she leaned back against the mirror that had been placed at the back of the cabin. Looking over her shoulder Hermione could see her open her purse before reaching in slightly further than she should have been able to as she pulled out a packet of fags. The handling was again repetitive, by now she had seen it twice before.

“I think last time they mentioned looking at the cables as they opened up the doors,” she offered as a response. This just elicited a short laugh as the lady lit the cigarette and took the first pull. She had asked the first time they had gotten stuck if she minded, she had just shrugged that time as she had pulled out some paperwork and started to work on the notes she had taken earlier that day.

Today though, she had none of those distractions to keep her mind occupied. Looking around there was just the brown carpet, the fake wooden walls, the brass coloured railing thingy that sat in front of the mirror and the stockings covered legs that filled her peripheral vision.

“Not busy today?” The lady asked as the silence started to wear between them.

“Nope, I was on my way to a meeting that,” she checked her watch,“ started seven minutes ago. I doubt they’d even notice I’m missing anyway,” she said as she took a first real look up at the lady. It was a strange situation to be in anyway. Getting stuck in a lift wasn’t high up in her bucket list, but having it happen thrice in just as many weeks? It was more inconvenient than anything.

“Yes, I’m missing my dress fittings,” another tug at the cigarette. Hermione had never really understood people who smoked, but she had to admit some part of her thought it was kinda nice aesthetically. And from where she was sitting she could see the smoke travel slowly out of her mouth into the ceiling ventilation.

“Anything special?” Hermione ventured, taking the opportunity to get a conversation going. If the last times had pointed anything out it was that this would not be a short stay.

“You could say that,” she could see there was a moment of hesitation in her expression as if she was considering how much she should say. Or in this case probably to a stranger in a lift that they didn’t even know.

“That’s nice, my name is Hermione by the way.”

“Narcissa.”

There was a formal tone to that as if her name carried a weight that should be respected. But for as far as Hermione could recall she had no knowledge of anyone with that name. It did have a pretty nice ring to it she had to say.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing in the building anyway? Isn’t it just office spaces up there?” she asked.

“My former husband sits on the board of the bank of England, and while we have parted ways in the private sense…” she took a small pause to put the cigarette back to her lips. They were painted black, Hermione noted. Commenting to herself that it fit her well, she tuned back in to what Narcissa was telling her, “…and therefore I still make my appearances in the function of my family and our professional connection.”

“That’s…” Hermione started before closing her mouth and seized speaking.

“It’s a very boring way of keeping your bank account filled,” Narcissa said.

“Well at least you’re there to keep them on some kind of track,” Hermione offered as an opinion. She wasn’t sure if it was even well placed but she tried.

“Eh, they’ve managed to do enough harm on their own. But enough about me, what’s it that you do here? If you’re not with the bank you must be working for one of the other institutions that this building holds.”

“I just do the general management of Claymore and Sons; I think the position would be equivalent to the person who does the work of the person who reports to the board,” she told her. If she had to be honest it was a pretty accurate description of what her day to day looked like. It wasn’t that Percy didn’t do his job, it was just that he didn’t say no to more responsibilities. Even between the two of them, it was almost magical that they didn’t have to work overtime all week.

“I think I’ve heard of them. Haven’t they pivoted in the last decade from leasing land to farmers to try to turn the agricultural sector around so our farmers can be self-sustaining?” Narcissa asked, knowing far more than Hermione had ever hoped someone outside of her team would understand on what they really did.

“Essentially, it’s going to be a hard couple of years before we get it finalized, but it should work out pretty well if they manage to implement it,” she said.

“Power to you,” Narcissa said as she fished a metal looking box out of her bag and put her the smoking remnants inside. “Did we press the button to let them know we’re stuck?” she suddenly asked as her eyes opened wide.

“I don’t believe so,” Hermione said as she got up quickly and pressed the panic button and waited a moment before she could hear someone on the other side pick up the phone.

“Bartholomew Office building speaking, what can I do for you today?” a tired sounding voice filled the cabin.

“Hey, it’s us again, your lift has given up again,” Hermione told them as she awaited the now expected response.

“If you look up to the top right corner you should see a number, could you tell me what it is?” they asked.

“Seven, nine, eight, Oscar, Alpha,” she recited again. It wasn’t the same as the previous time so that was almost reassuring if not worrying that the building was just filled with broken lifts.

“Noted,” the voice said before falling silent.

“Bet he tells us that it’s gonna take a bit longer cause the person responsible isn’t here,” Narcissa said as she placed her bag on the floor.

“Hey, so it’s gonna take a bit longer. James is out and when I called he told he there was no way he could be back before three,” he told them. Looking over her shoulder Hermione could see Narcissa motion the ‘I told you so,’ before she pressed the button again.

“No worries, just give us a heads up when he’s in again.”

“It’s the third time isn’t it?“ the voice asked.

“Yeah, I guess we’ve got bad luck.”

“Yeah, I’ll try to get him here earlier. In the meantime would you guys like it if I turned off the music or is it okay? Maybe the radio or something?”

“Just have it be turned off, it’s going to get on my nerves,” Narcissa said before she could react.

Pressing the button she told him, “Just turn it off, thanks, bye.” She decided to add the bye on a whim there, letting him know the conversation was very much over. From the click, she heard he had hung up. The music stopped moments later, leaving the two of them to stand in the lift on their own.

-o-

“Been to Ibiza recently?” Narcissa ventured as they had been sitting on the floor now. The small talk between them could only go so far in filling the next four or so hours, leaving them to asking random questions in a manner that reminded her of truth or dare. But only truths mattered this time around.

“Yeah, me and my ex went last year. It was pretty fun till I lost her for like an afternoon. She had apparently made friends with a dolphin and they had been vibing at one of the private beaches there.”

“Sounds like an ordeal.”

“Luna’s sweet, but we work better as friends.” She admitted.

“I get that,” Narcissa said.

“You’re divorced?”

“As I said, but that’s not a real question if you know the answer.”

“Yeah, yeah I know. But are you seeing anyone at the moment?”

“My, Hermione what are you asking?” Narcissa said in a joking tone that made her realize that her previous statement could be interpreted as something…

“No, no, no. I was just wondering, it’s not usual to see a woman in such a powerful not in some kind of relation.” Hermione quickly tried to defend herself.

“The same could be said about you, too. You’re in a similar position. You look incredible even in the untailored clothing you have on, and your eyes are as polished amber in first rays of dawn.”

There was a pause as both of them realized what had just been saying was far more meaningful than Hermione’s accidental comment.

“Anyway,” Narcissa rushed to continue the conversation, “You don’t have your eyes on anyone?”

“Not at the moment, my friends have tried their best but my schedule doesn’t really allow for it and it’s not like I bump into a quick fling at work…” She joked as she looked back over at Narcissa.

“Yeah…”

“Have you seen The Half of It?” Hermione asked.

“I think I caught it at some point, my sister was watching it over the weekend.”

“It’s worth a watch if you ever have the time.”

“I’ll take that advice, for whenever we get out of this stupid metal box.”

“Yeah, I’d invite you to watch it sometime.”

“I’ll take you up on that offer,” Narcissa told her as she reached into her purse again. Pulling out a small notebook that she handed her with a pen. “Here give me your number so we can set that up and not meet only in this busted lift.”

“That would be preferable,” Hermione agreed as she quickly noted down her digits and handed it back to her. From where she was sitting she could see that Narcissa added something to the page but it was difficult to see what it was.

“Anyway, are you a red or white wine girl?” she asked as she put the booklet away.

“More a spirits than wine girl to be honest,” Hermione said as she recalled the evenings in college where her body had opposed strongly against any kind of wine ingestion.

“Interesting, anything you can recommend?”

“Eh,” Hermione thought for a second, she had only really met this lady today but was she ready to admit that she had the taste of a college student who had not yet realized that death was an option, “If they tell you that vodka is more than fifteen pound per bottle but less than fifty there is no noticeable difference with a nine-pound bottle.”

“Ah,” a slightly amused look started to appear on Narcissa’s face.

“Yeah…”

“I had an ex who drank that for a while, they always said it was terrible but still went back to it every time.”

“Oh, yeah it’s fucking terrible, but it does give a nice buzz if you mix it correctly.”

“I’ve heard.”

-o-

“Never have I ever gone to the emergency room for something that happened inside the bedroom,” Hermione glared at her and lowered a finger.

“Oh, do tell what happened there,” Narcissa poked as she still had most of her fingers firmly pointed towards the ceiling. The fact that they knew only the slightest amount of information about each other had made it a fun game of shooting in the dark.

“Look, I might have tripped when I tried going to the bathroom, forgetting that my leg was attached to my thigh. And as embarrassing as that was, I fell chest first into a bedpost. The nurse had a good laugh about it when I came in with my girlfriend as she asked to see the place it hurt and probably could have counted like twelve hickeys when I opened up my robe.”

“I can only imagine,” Narcissa said as she did her best to suppress a chuckle.

“It’s what it is,” Hermione shrugged.

“Anyway, your turn.”

“Never have I ever kissed a stranger less than five minutes after meeting them,” she ventured and then gave herself a fist pump as a digit went down on Narcissa's side. “Oh, care to tell?”

“Look, I was young once and my sister dared me to kiss the next person who walked in the room at a party. It’s not like I had a choice with the mild amount of peer pressure she was putting on me,” she explained.

“What did he say when you did it?”

“She was fine with it actually, don’t think I ever got her name though. And I do believe it is my turn now.”

“It appears to be so, never have I ever been handcuffed during the deed.”

“You must be reading my mind,” Hermione said as another finger went down.

“Looks like you’re on your final two. Better make it count Hermione.”

“Well never have I…”

-o-

“…and that when you put in the garlic, it’s important to have the meal–”

“Hey guys, James should be here in like five minutes so if everything goes right you’ll be out and about in ten to fifteen minutes,” the voice from the speaker said interrupting their conversation.

Reaching up Hermione pressed the button to speak, “Thanks we’ll be here.”

“Not that we have much choice in that,” Narcissa muttered under her breath.

“Hey, at least the company makes up for some of that,” Hermione said as she stuck her tongue out at Narcissa.

“Well, a little bit at least,” Narcissa told her as she rolled her eyes, “Any way we should probably get ourselves to look presentable.”

Looking at the state of her current outfit, she had to admit that if she didn’t know better she’d have doubted she had been home that day. It looked like she had gone clubbing but in her work outfit. Narcissa on the other hand probably just had to straighten out her jacket and put her shoes on again to look presentable.

“Eh, it’s only gonna be the boys and Cho anyway. They’re used to it,” she mumbled as she picked up her own jacket and threw it over her shoulder.

“Fair enough,” Narcissa said as suddenly the cabin started to move up for the first time in like four hours.

“Let’s see what their explanation is this time,” Hermione joked as she looked up at the floor indicator. If past experiences told her anything they’d be let out on the tenth floor where maintenance lived. And right on the dot, floor ten was reached and the doors opened slowly.

“I’ll call for that movie,” Narcissa said as the familiar face of our saviour, the lift technician, James saw who he was helping out of the lift again.

**Author's Note:**

> hi, thanks for reading this was writtin in connection to the Bellmaione coven valentine event. Now you might ask yourself, isn't this a cissamione story and doesn't the tag say bellamione? And you'd be correct, but the folk over at the discord decided that all the black sisters needed some love for valentine.So if you are enjoying this story, take a look at the tag and maybe join us over at the discord :p
> 
> [Linky link to the discord](https://discord.gg/rAKhWJQ)


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